Horse racing revival in Cairns
CAIRNS will become one of the horse racing capitals of Queensland as part of a massive overhaul of Cannon Park.
Plans revealed yesterday include:
• The Cairns Jockey Club will stage 20 TAB race meeting and one non-TAB meeting from the 2011-12 season.
• The 13 Tuesday TAB meetings and seven Saturday TAB meetings to be shown on Sky Racing.
• Queensland Racing Ltd will take over the operation of the track while the Cairns Jockey Club will run the
meetings.
• The Cairns Cup will move from August to June.
• $3 million to be spent upgrading Cannon Park’s facilities, including a new running rail, stables, fibre optic cable and track drainage.
• Queensland Racing will wipe the Cairns Jockey Club’s significant debt.
• Cairns Amateurs will be a two-day TAB meeting.
The Cairns Jockey Club and Cairns Amateurs have given the plan in-principle support.
"It’s good for Cairns," Queensland Racing Ltd chairman Bob Bentley said.
"There will be an increase in prizemoney that will be distributed in the Cairns area.
"It will attract more participants and more visitors."
The plan is contingent on the resolution of a $100 million damages claim made by property developer Trafalgar against the CJC.
"We look forward to the resolution of the Trafalgar litigation so Cairns racing can go forward," Mr Bentley said.
The plan must also be approved by CJC and Cairns Amateurs members.
Mr Bentley said the move was not a Queensland Racing "takeover" of Cannon Park and the jockey club had done well under difficult financial
circumstances.
"It costs them a lot of money to maintain the track," he said.
"They find it very, very difficult to maintain it to a TAB standard so what we’ve said is we’ll look after the track, we’ll maintain the track and we’ll take the costs away from you so it will make the club very viable here."
The CJC has struggled financially for several years while the Cairns Amateurs has also faced difficulties.
Both clubs welcomed yesterday’s announcement.
CJC committee member Greg Smith said the plan to screen 13 Tuesday and seven Saturday TAB meetings a year on Sky Racing from the 2011-12 season would also benefit Queensland Racing Ltd.
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